1966 — Page 96

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

procedure, it should be possible to start work on the site in the latter half of 1967 and to complete the building one year later.

MR. WILFRED WONG: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary question?

Is not the period of four years a long time for a three-storey market to be built?

ACTING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: Mr. Chairman, as I understand it, it is not a question of the market being built, it is a question of deciding what is to be built, and I believe that question has been pursued in this Council for quite a long time.

MR. WILFRED WONG: Mr. Chairman, I understand that the design of the market was settled by the Markets Select Committee with a representative of the Public Works Department in the first week of July, 1965?

ACTING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: You will see from the answer to the question that since January 5th, 1965, when the Standing Committee of the Urban Council approved the construction, the details have been under discussion in the Urban Services Department, the Public Works Department and the Markets Select Committee, and I understand in actual fact that agreement on what to build was only reached recently.

MR. WILFRED WONG: What I mean, Mr. Chairman, is that one year from the latter part of 1967 is rather a long time to build a three-storey market. Am I right on that point?

VICE-CHAIRMAN: I would say that four years does seem a long time, Mr. Wong.

MR. WILFRED WONG: I agree.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, in view of what has been said so far, do you not think that you should allow an extra year in addition to the 4 years to give allowance for those concerned to pass the buck?

(4) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:—

(a) Some flood victims not granted resettlement after the June floods were resited in Section 3 Shek Pai Wan Village, Aberdeen. Does the Commissioner for Resettlement know that the sites they were given had already been vacated as dangerous, with the permission of the Area Officer?

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(b) What has been done to make the hillside safe from further landslide danger, and to provide toilet accommodation and open up the water supply?

(c) What grade of officer of the Resettlement Department or Squatter Control is responsible for checking the safety of resite areas, and for seeing that they have the elementary requirements for habitation?

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:

The answer to the first part of the question is that one site in this area, which had previously been vacated because the occupants thought it was dangerous, was subsequently re-allocated to a family from Staunton Creek which had been rendered homeless by the floods on 12th June. The circumstances are as follows. On the 9th June, three days before the heavy rainstorm, a Resettlement Assistant on patrol found that a small gully had developed near the front of a hut in section 3. The hut was not damaged and the officer did not consider that it was in danger. The owner, however, pressed for immediate resettlement on the grounds that his hut would be endangered if further rain fell.

The Resettlement Assistant pointed out that, although he was ineligible for resettlement, he could be repositioned if he so wished. This was arranged within the same section of the resite area and he rebuilt his hut on another site. After the heavy rain on the 12th of June, it was found that no further damage had occurred to the site that had been vacated and it was therefore re-allocated to a family from Staunton Creek who accepted it without raising any objection. Only one other site had to be vacated as a result of the rainstorm on the 12th June and it has not been re-allocated.

2. The answer to the second part of the question is in three parts:

(a) First. This resite area is on a hillside which is terraced, most of the terraces being supported by stone retaining walls. The presence of trees and other vegetation helps to bind the soil. Some damage was done to sections of some terraces and of the surface storm water channels by the exceptionally heavy rain on the 12th June, but any such location which has been rendered unsafe will not be re-occupied until repairs have been carried out. The work started at the end of last week.

(b) Secondly. A number of people living in this area were resettled in June 1965 and, before the rainstorm on

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